The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 23, 2013
Filed:
Feb. 09, 2010
Luis Goncalves, Pasadena, CA (US);
Luis Goncalves, Pasadena, CA (US);
Datalogic ADC, Inc., Eugene, OR (US);
Abstract
A merchandise checkout system for ringing up merchandise in a grocery or other retail facility is disclosed. The merchandise checkout system includes visual sensors for acquiring images of an object to be rung up at checkout; a database configured to retain a visual model and UPC code of known items; and a processor configured to maintain and update the database with information about new merchandise presented for checkout. The visual model preferably includes at least one image of each item of merchandise in the retail store as well as geometric point features extracted from images of the merchandise. The processor in the exemplary embodiment is configured to: (a) compare the image of the object acquired at checkout to the visual model of the items in the database; (b) recognize the object based on the overall appearance of the packaging; (c) automatically ring up the price of the object at the POS; and (d) automatically add the acquired image to the database if the image of the object is new, i.e., it does not match the visual model of any of the items recorded in the database, thereby enabling the checkout system to dynamically and automatically build up its database of visual models.